Utilizing Community Resources: An Overview of Human Services.

This book is designed to give human service professionals a comprehensive inventory of services and information necessary to help and guide the client. The book attempts to equip the human service professional with the necessary background and information to enlist the expertise of professionals in other specialties. It consists of eight chapters including implications for case management, health and diagnostic services, social services, rehabilitation services, vocational and employment services, legal services and advocacy, education, and human services. Each chapter is divided into three sections: (a) History and Legislation, outlining the historical background of each agency, (b) Purpose and Intent, providing the rationale for each agency, and (c) Client Services that demonstrates the ways in which agency and counselor interact to meet client needs. Incorporated in the Client Services section of each chapter are potential referral questions typically asked by agencies that may assist counselors in preparing thorough documentation of a client's case. These questions serve as a guide for gathering information essential to the referral process.

Utilizing community resources serves both as a guide to community service agencies as well as educational tool for providers on how best to communicate with those agencies to attain appropriate client services. While not intended to provide local agency addresses or individual referrals throughout the country, the book serves as a framework for developing ones own list of comprehensive local referral resources. It also emphasizes that referring a client to a person is far better than an organization. Getting acquainted with the organization is the first step, and actively getting to know the services available and its service provider is the next step.

Section one summarizes case management implications including identifying and selecting the appropriate resources following a detailed needs assessment of the client. Section two discusses types of home health care available, both proprietary and nonprofit, and provides a list of advantages and disadvantages associated with home health care. Suggestions are offered for determining need and obtaining home health care. Also included in this section is information on community mental health services pain clinics, alcohol and drug programs, and peer self-help groups. The pain clinic's section provides an overview of a client's potential need for securing a variety of services including medical assessment and evaluation, psychological evaluation and treatment, physical therapy, biofeedback and relaxation training, exercise and therapeutic recreation, vocational rehabilitation counseling, and work hardening and occupational therapy.

Section three reviews social services including Social Security Disability/Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, Children and Family Services, Women's Centers, and Family Planning. This chapter explores the distinction between Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and the Supplemental Security Income program. In addition to describing the history and legislation of both programs, the definition of disability and the process for determining an individual eligible for receiving either SSDI or Supplemental Security income benefits are presented. The Medicaid section reviews federally mandated services, state optional services, and case management requirements that are specific to Medicaid patients. The family planning portion is quite extensive and includes an explanation of services to women who cannot afford private physicians as well as delineating what is meant by Title X funding.

Section four reviews Vocational Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Facilities, Private Rehabilitation, Work-hardening Centers, and Rehabilitation Engineering/Technology Services. The private rehabilitation section is quite detailed with topics of the compensation principle, state statutes, vocational counseling, job analysis, labor market surveying, and vocational-oriented testimony. The work-hardening section summarizes the work-hardening program based on an eight Stage Model of Industrial Evaluation developed by Matheson (1984).

Section five reviews Employment Security/Job Service, Job Training Partnership, Private Employment Services, and Supported Employment. Section six reviews Legal Aid and Public Interest Advocacy, Civil Rights and Equal Employment/Americans with Disabilities Act, Guardianship and Advocacy, and Client Assistance Programs. Section seven reviews Vocational, Adult, and Special Education with an overview of the administrative structure and types of course sequences in vocational education. The service delivery system of special education is perhaps the most informative and useful portion of this section. However, an obvious oversight is information with respect to early and regular education programs and services for children and adults. Information on programs such as Head Start, transition services and other programs that link rehabilitation, regular and special education, and other human service providers would have been helpful. Section eight reviews Centers for Independent Living, Therapeutic Recreation, Financial Assistance, Housing and Urban Development, and Community Service Organizations.

This book is an excellent beginning resource because it extends beyond those in vocational rehabilitation, it serves as a handy reference to human service personnel and their clients.

Renee A. Middleton & B.J. Tiechman Auburn University, Alabama